U drops warning about 'unreliable' websites

The University of Minnesota removed a list of "unreliable" sites from one of its academic web pages Friday, averting a potential federal lawsuit that alleged defamation and raised concerns about academic freedom.

It's the second time this fall the U has faced allegations of squelching open inquiry, some say in deference to donors, a charge officials deny.

Up until Friday, the U's Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies website had posted a list of Internet sites that students should not use in their research, calling them "unreliable."

That didn't sit well with one of the sites on the list, the Turkish Coalition of America, or with U freshman Sinan Cingilli, who called the warning box "really almost an insult to the students, saying they don't have the mental capacity to think critically."

Lawyers for the coalition and Cingilli had prepared a complaint to be filed Friday in federal court.

The suit wasn't filed, because the U took down the offending box Friday and replaced it with one warning researchers to "exercise caution" in evaluating sources and listed reference materials it did recommend.

U general counsel Mark Rotenberg said the changes to the site were the result of a review that was already in process, though the immediate step of removing the box was done in response to the concerns raised by the potential plaintiffs.

Rotenberg said the original box was not a threat to academic freedom because it didn't restrict anyone's speech, and students and faculty were free to visit the sites without fear of penalty.

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Nor was it defamatory, he said, because it simply reflected faculty members' views that the listed sites were unreliable.

Rotenberg said he hadn't seen any similar boxes posted by other departments at the U, and lawyers for Cingilli and the Turkish Coalition said they hadn't found any at other universities.

It's fine for universities to make choices about what's educationally suitable, said Bruce Fein, attorney for the Washington, D.C.-based coalition, but "you've got to have it administered even-handedly," with clear criteria and an opportunity to appeal.

Given the changes to the site, if the U confirms in writing its promise not to post such a list again, the suit won't be filed and the defamation claim will be dropped, said Larry Frost, local counsel working with the coalition. Still to be negotiated are a potential joint statement from the U and the lawyers about the issue, and determination of who pays attorneys' fees.

But even if the legal action goes away, the Holocaust Center box, along with the recent flap over the "Troubled Waters" film, raises questions about whether donors are influencing academic content at the U, Frost said.

U officials blocked broadcast of the documentary film "Troubled Waters: A Mississippi River Story" in September and then reversed themselves after the move sparked an uproar that included suggestions the U was buckling to large agricultural interests that might have been upset by the film.

In the case of the Holocaust Center, one donor is the Armenian Genocide Education Fund, described as "supporting the creation and distribution of resources, curricula and workshops to educate the community about the Armenian Genocide of 1915."

Whether the deaths of Armenians in World War I constitute "genocide" is hotly disputed between Turks and Armenians, and the Turkish Coalition site takes the position that "genocide" has not been established.

The question the U should be asking about funders is, "Does this money come with strings?" Frost said. If so, "that turns the recipient of the money into an indoctrinator. U professors should be inquirers, not indoctrinators."

"There's no evidence whatsoever" in the "Troubled Waters" case that the actions of anyone at the U were motivated by any donation, he said.

Rotenberg referred questions about the extent of donations to the Armenian Genocide Education Fund and any influence on content to Chaouat, who did not return calls.

"We are very concerned about maintaining academic freedom," Rotenberg said, and he and the provost have meetings coming up with the Faculty Senate on the issue.

Cingilli said that when he expressed concerns about the "unreliable" box to Holocaust Center staff, he was asked why he would want to use sites that are "marked with a scarlet letter" and was told there were plenty of other reliable sources out there.

Cingilli was born in Turkey, but his heritage "has absolutely no bearing" on his complaint, he said.

The issue is that "students are being discouraged from thinking critically about what is a reliable source to use and what isn't," he said, which for a university is "quite frankly kind of disturbing."

Doug Belden can be reached at 651-228-5136.

Until Friday, the University of Minnesota's Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies had a list of sources on its site under the heading "Unreliable Websites" and text that read: "We do not recommend these sites. Warnings should be given to students writing papers that they should not use these sites because of denial, support by an unknown organization, or contents that are a strange mix of fact and opinion. We also do not advise using sites with excessive advertising."

To read the Turkish Coalition of America's site, which was on the "unreliable" list, visit turkishcoalition.org.

U undergraduates are expected to learn to "locate and critically evaluate information," and the Board of Regents defines academic freedom as "the freedom to discuss all relevant matters in the classroom, to explore all avenues of scholarship, research and creative expression, and to speak or write without institutional discipline or restraint on matters of public concern as well as on matters related to professional duties and the functioning of the University."